If that were the case, I would agree with my colleague. But I believe he's not reading section 54(2) properly. It describes the “Effect of payment or imprisonment”. It says, “If, after being convicted, the accused pays the amount set out in the ticket....” Then it goes on to say that “the judicial record of the accused in relation to the offence must be kept separate and apart from other judicial records....”
I'm talking about after conviction. Let's say you have a wealthy person who is convicted and you have an indigent person who is convicted. The wealthy person goes and pays the fine, and their judicial record is now kept separate and apart from other judicial records and can't be used for any purpose that would identify the accused as a person dealt with under this act. But at that point, the indigent can't pay the fine. This is after conviction, so there's no possibility of a discharge at this point. They've already been convicted. That's why this amendment is so important, to deal with that situation.
Ironically, section 55...would leave that person with only one option: serving the jail sentence. So they serve the jail sentence and then they can be treated the same way.
Really what we have here are two different standards of justice: your criminal record and your privacy expectations are dependent upon your ability to pay. Surely that can't be the intention and desire of the Liberal government.